[License-review] For Approval: Convertible Free Software License, Version 1.3 (C-FSL v1.3)

[Lawrence Rosen]

John Cowan wrote:

> I, on the other hand, think that open-source collaboration goes there every single day, and that nearly every patch committed evinces "the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole."  And not only do I think so, I believe that Larry Rosen, who is an actual IP lawyer, thinks so too.  Indeed, it was he who convinced me of its truth.

 

I also believe it to be true, but please be careful. That authorized "merging" gives the patch author NO ownership rights to the software that is being patched. There is a legal difference between "joint work" and "contributions to a derivative work." A "patch" is, at most, a weakly copyrighted work. 17 USC 103(b) <https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/103> . 

 

/Larry

 

From: License-review <license-review-bounces at lists.opensource.org> On Behalf Of John Cowan
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2019 11:28 PM
To: License submissions for OSI review <license-review at lists.opensource.org>
Subject: Re: [License-review] For Approval: Convertible Free Software License, Version 1.3 (C-FSL v1.3)

 

 

 

On Fri, Jan 11, 2019 at 4:34 PM Rob Landley <rob at landley.net <mailto:rob at landley.net> > wrote:

 

(I'm

glossing over "joint authorship" because we don't do that here, see
https://www.bakerdonelson.com/avoiding-joint-pain-treatment-of-joint-works-of-authorship-conditions
and
https://www.trademarkandcopyrightlawblog.com/2015/10/first-circuit-clarifies-rights-of-co-author-of-joint-derivative-work-to-make-further-derivatives/
and
https://corporate.findlaw.com/intellectual-property/copyright-ownership-the-joint-authorship-doctrine.html
if you're curious, but open source is careful not to go there.)

 

I, on the other hand, think that open-source collaboration goes there every single day, and that nearly every patch committed evinces "the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole."  And not only do I think so, I believe that Larry Rosen, who is an actual IP lawyer, thinks so too.  Indeed, it was he who convinced me of its truth.

  

This is why filming stage plays is so hard [etc. etc. etc.]

 

It's hard because films are made in a "clearance culture", which is to say a culture of fear, not because of actual legal constraints. Still photographers take pictures of strangers without their consent every day, and a video is nothing but a sequence of stills. (There are some exceptions and anomalies, such as the right in California to prevent certain uses of your image if you're a famous person, but even that doesn't extend to news photography.)  Oddly enough, audio recordings without consent are legal or illegal on a state-by-state basis.

 

--

John Cowan          http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org <mailto:cowan at ccil.org> 

Pour moi, les villes du Silmarillion ont plus de realite que Babylone.

                --Christopher Tolkien, as interviewed by Le Monde

 

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